1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a two-part electrical connector for use in aircraft or other vibration-prone environments, and relates more particularly to a specially configured retainer ring and thrust washer used to hold a coupling ring that maintains the two connector components in their joined position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,750,087 and 3,805,379 both show electrical connectors that include a plurality of mated pin and socket contacts held within insulating bodies that are, in turn, contained within protective shells. The respective pin and socket contacts are joined by insertion and a coupling ring is used to draw together and to hold together the two shells and their insulating bodies, thereby insuring adequate electrical contact between the pin and socket contacts and protecting the shells against separation that might be caused by vibration, physical shock or other stress and strain factors.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,750,087 and 3,805,379, an externally threaded retainer ring is used in one connector component to hold in place a special spring washer and detent ring. The washer and ring together provide pre-loading forces to aid coupling and bottoming-out of the two connector components comprising the connector. While the use of a threaded retainer ring permits some adjustability, because the threaded retainer ring can be advanced a specified distance during assembly of a connector component, the use of a threaded retainer ring has certain disadvantages. For example, the threaded retainer ring is necessarily narrow, thus there is only a limited amount of material available for forming the external threads. This can lead to stripping of the threads that hold the retainer ring in place. In addition, forming the threads involves machining and increased costs compared to parts that do not need to be threaded. Finally, to hold a threaded retainer ring in place, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,750,087 and 3,805,379 teach use of welding or staking. Epoxy has also been used in this type of connector. If welding or epoxy is used, it may be incorrectly placed and may be fractured when tools are used to grasp the connector. A staking process, on the other hand, tends to be expensive and makes the part look damaged. Accordingly, what is needed as an improvement over the prior art is a structure for holding the resilient means used in the coupling rings of two-part electrical connectors in such a way that a threaded retainer ring is unnecessary.